SCHOOL I was stripped, beaten and forced to fight other boys by the demon headmaster
A MAN whose life was ruined by a demon headmaster has told for the first time of the terrors he suffered at the school of hell.
Sean Hann, now 47, was subjected to years of physical beatings and mental torment by brute Derrick Cooper, who ruled Underley Hall with an iron hand.
Sean’s agonies included being made to go naked except for a towel for weeks at a time in freezing weather, being beaten and forced to fight other boys, made to sleep on stone floors and getting woken up by Cooper stamping on him.
He broke a decades-long silence on his misery after evil Cooper, now 77, was finally locked up for abuse he inflicted in the 1970s and 1980s.
Cooper had branded Sean’s allegations “fantasy” but he was found guilty of assault and jailed for 20 months despite his failing health.
Troubled
Apart from Cooper’s reign of terror other grim shadows fell across the rambling, Tudor-style private boarding school.
They included links to paedo MP Cyril Smith and a teacher who killed himself after being charged with child sex abuse.
Cooper was a co-founder of Underley Hall, which opened in January 1976 offering residential accommodation for 55 boys with troubled backgrounds.
The building, set in 31 acres of woodland in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, housed lads aged from seven to 16 from all over the north.
Its stated aim was to provide “an affectionate, caring environment for boys who cannot come to terms with the demands of an ordinary school”.
But Sean, who was sent there at 13 in 1984 after being expelled from mainstream education, recalled: “I was in a permanent state of terror. No one should ever be sent to a school like that – it was an evil, twisted place.
“Cooper was a little Hitler and I am shocked he only got 20 months. He and Underley Hall ruined my life.”
Sean, whose memories include enduring sadis- tic rituals called “The Towel” and “The Red Hand Gang”, said he had been left so scarred he had never married or had children of his own.
He said: “I haven’t been able to live a normal life. I am still plagued by those dark times.”
Sean’s three-year nightmare began when he got into a fight with another youngster outside of the school.
He recalled: “Most people were there permanently but at the time I was allowed to go home on weekends.
“The school found out about the fight and Cooper dragged me back on a Saturday and beat me in an office.
“I was then forced to wear nothing but a towel for 10 weeks. “Cooper made me strip, brought me into the dining room in front of 60 boys and gave me a towel. He said I’d be in it for as long as he wanted.
“He smashed my head and dragged me by my hair across the room. It was the middle of winter and I was made to stand up to my shins in snow in the schoolyard for half an hour a day.
“I wasn’t even allowed to hunch over against the wind – I was in my own personal snowglobe.”
Sean was also told he would have to sleep on a stone-floored corridor with only a thin camping mat.
He said: “All the windows were smashed and it was so cold that in the morning the sheet would be frozen. One time I was woken up by Cooper stamping on me in the middle of the night.”
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Sean developed chronic bronchitis as a result and was in hospital for two weeks.
When he returned to the school he and four other pupils ran away but were soon found and handed back to Cooper.
Sean said: “We got battered. Not one person ever asked us why we ran away.
“We never told anyone about Underley,